What happens if you organize a birthday party, invite thousands of guests and they all come? Loud music, nervous neighbors, drugs, sex and rock ‘n’ roll, fighting, burning or drowning cars, the police, media … All that apparently happened in Australia in 2008, when young Corey Worthington invited over 500 people to a party and the results were disastrous. They caused $20,000 in damage. And it happened again a few days ago in Haren, a small town in Holland, where one 16 year old girl posted an invitation to her party on Facebook. Some 3,000 people came and almost burned down the town.

That idea of a “birthday party that went out of control” was also the plot for the movie Project X, a 2012 production that is a part of the found-footage genre.

Found footage is a genre of film making,

especially horror, in which all or a substantial part of a film is presented as discovered film or video recordings, often left behind by missing or dead protagonists. It has been increasingly popular in Hollywood movies in the last few years. The most obvious (the best?) examples are The Blair Witch Project, Cloverfield, Paranormal Activity and The Chronicle.

Project X is a project by a first-time director Nima Nourizadeh. Fortunately he didn’t exaggerate in using product placement in the movie, although there were plenty opportunities to make it a product placement prostitution.

Let’s check the most obvious examples [possible spoilers]:

BlackBerry

BlackBerry has a very small role and was present in only one scene. Missed opportunity? Maybe.

Black Berry from Project X (2012, Warner Bros., screen capture)

Lacoste

Costa, one of the main characters and the mastermind behind the party, wore a Lacoste sweater vest throughout the movie. Lacoste’s logo was clearly visible in several scenes.

Costa wearing Lacoste. Great wordplay.

Lacoste sweater from Project X (2012, Warner Bros., screen capture)

Mercedes

In the beginning of the movie J.B.’s father told his son not to touch his Mercedes CLS.

Mercedes Benz CLS 550 from Project X (2012, Warner Bros., screen capture)


As we could expected the car had found a new home :)

Mercedes Benz CLS 550 from Project X (2012, Warner Bros., screen capture)


I agree with James Berardinelli, who wrote that Project X is just naughty and forgettable. That could be said for product placement as well.

 

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Some other movies from the ‘Product placement in pictures’ series:

The Hunger Games

21 Jump Street

Mission Impossible – Ghost Protocol

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

The Help

Drive

Crazy Stupid Love

Friends With Benefits

Fast Five

No Strings Attached